The White Fox
by RedasFIRE
Summary: Sword Art Online. What was to be the new pinnacle of gaming has turned into a game of death. I wonder if I'll make it through alive?
1. Welcome to Sword Art Online

**For some reason I felt an urge to write a Sword Art Online story.**

* * *

The White Fox

01

Welcome to Sword Art Online

* * *

November 6th, 2022.

The day that I had been waiting for the past three months to arrive.

I stopped at the gate to my home, looking down at the bag I held in my hand. Inside it was a copy of what was to be the first ever VRMMO for the NerveGear, and for gaming in general, Sword Art Online.

Reaching into my coat pocket and grabbing the keys, I unlocked the gate and pushed it open. Doing the same at the front door, it opened with a slight squeak as I stepped inside.

"I'm home," I announced, taking my shoes off and placing them down by the door.

"Ah, welcome back, Onii-chan."

Rei, my little sister, came over to greet me. I smiled softly, bringing up a hand and petting her head.

I continued past her, going straight upstairs and into my room. Thankfully, I had the time to be able to log in almost instantly.

The offline sale started yesterday, but I only managed to get it today. It could be considered a good thing, because that meant that I didn't have to wait as long for the servers to launch.

Everything had already been set up in anticipation for this day, and all I needed to do was turn on the NerveGear, insert the cartridge, lay on my bed and wait for the time to hit 1:00 PM.

I put on the NerveGear and keenly watched the time.

It was a painful wait, as if time had slowed down to purposefully frustrate me.

The digital clock on the top left finally struck 1:00 PM, and I wasted no time in entering. I closed my eyes and drew in a breath.

"Link start!"

The darkness quickly transitioned into white, with a multitude of coloured cylindrical shapes speeding past me. It began calibrating.

Touch - OK

Sight - OK

Hearing - OK

Taste - OK

Smell - OK

The blue circles turned green and moved away, a language selection menu coming up next.

I selected Japanese, of course, and proceeded to the log in screen.

Log in_::

:account - *********

:password - ***********

After logging in, the next screen to show up was the Character Creation.

It came up with a notice.

Character Creation

Beta test data still available.

Would you like to use it?

Blanc (M)

I selected 'Yes' and the screen faded to a dark grey.

Welcome to

Sword Art Online!

A rush of blue enveloped the screen and then grew to a white.

I felt myself contact the ground, shards of light coming off of me and the sight of the Starting City coming into view. My senses were engaged by the NerveGear's technology.

Looking down, the most basic of gear was currently equipped on me. As I thought, all the gear I had acquired during my run in the beta test had been revoked. This lead me to believe that my Level had also been reset to 1.

I scanned the initial spawning zone, seeing more and more people spawn into the world.

A smile grew on my face.

It was a great feeling, one that brimmed me with a sort of joy.

I was finally back in the world of Aincrad, and this time it was with more than just the 1000 chosen to beta test the game.

Since I had loaded my beta test data, I retained the avatar that I used during my time. I chose to stand at a relatively average height, with short black hair and dark blue eyes. Of course, it wasn't my actual real life appearance, which was very different, because that was the point of being able to create your own avatar.

I took off through the city, trying to get to one of the better of the weapons vendors that the Starting City provided.

As the servers had only just went live, it was rather crowded so I spent a fair bit of time weaving in and out of people and trying not to run anyone over.

I turned into a street which was slightly less dense than the others, finally being able to move a little more freely.

"Hey…! Excuse me!"

After noticing that the voice of the female was aimed at me, I slowed to a stop and turned to face her.

Her avatar was that of a 15-or-so year old girl, with brown hair and eyes of a dark pink-like colour. Just like everyone else, she wore one of the many combinations of the basic equipment sets that were provided at the character customisation screen. A red top with detached sleeves that was covered by a brown leather for basic protection, a pinkish coloured skirt, and brown boots.

"Yes?"

"You look like you know where you're going, are you one of the beta testers?"

From her tone, I was able to make the assumption that she was a new player.

"Yeah."

She grinned, "Can you show me where the best shops are?"

I pondered her request. Though I wasn't exactly one that would spend time helping a new player out, there was something in my mind telling me that I should.

"O-okay."

For whatever reason, those were the words that chose to come out of my mouth.

The girl's grin grew wider.

"Thank you! My name's Lisbeth."

I ended up smiling myself in response to her beaming face.

"I'm Blanc."

* * *

We stopped the sort-of-tour at a shop which sold weapons.

"This is my personal favourite when it comes to starting weaponry," I said, pointing to the shop's entrance as I did so, "The prices are higher than most other vendors, but the weapon grades are higher, too."

"Ooh~" Lisbeth sounded out in wonder.

Along the sort-of-tour, we'd both begun purchasing our own equipment. She'd already picked her weapon and gone with an Iron Hammer, a low-tier One Handed War Hammer, but that burned up most of her starting Cor so she couldn't do much in terms of better armour.

I myself had yet to by a weapon, but I already knew what I was going to go with. My style was geared more towards light armour and One Handed Daggers, so the first weapon I'd get would definitely be an Iron Dagger.

"Hold on a minute, I just need to get my weapon."

"Okay."

With that, I slipped into the shop and, as quickly as I could to not keep Lisbeth waiting, bought the Iron Dagger.

I stepped back outside, dagger in hand, and greeted her with a smile.

"That was quick," She said.

"Well, I kinda already knew where it was."

She gave me a funny look, "You mean you memorised something like that?"

I scratched the back of my head, "Uh… yeah, I guess…"

To be honest, it wasn't so much me memorising it as it was the search option in the menu. But I didn't feel the need to clarify that, so nothing was said.

We continued down one of the many street of the Town of Beginnings. I'd call it strange, the fact that I was actually walking beside someone. During the beta test period, there were only about four people I'd occasionally bother to spend time with.

But, this girl… She seemed to have an ability that was preventing me from actively trying to stray away from her. It wasn't much of a problem, but I expected myself to be outside leveling up by this point.

"Hey, Blanc," Lisbeth suddenly spoke up, interrupting my musing, "Why don't we go out and get some training in?"

"Huh?" I looked to her, "Oh, yeah. I was actually thinking about just that."

"Let's go then!"

She suddenly took of with speed, forcing me to run to try and keep up with her.

* * *

"Alright, you should be able to handle this one."

The blue boar turned to face us as I stepped out of the way to allow Lisbeth to take it on. So far, we'd managed upon few enemies but, after some searching, we finally found one.

Lisbeth bore her hammer in front of her, and the boar charged. She attempted a dodge but fell onto a patch of dirt in the grassy field, wincing at the tiny sense of pain from her landing.

The game hadn't been developed to allow a realistic amount of pain for certain actions, and it was pretty obvious why. After all, I didn't think they'd want people to sue them because of the unbearable pain the game had caused them. It wasn't a non-inclusion that anyone cared about, either.

"You've got to try and input the motion, Lisbeth," I reminded, "SAO will be a lot easier for you if you do."

"I know, I know!" She responded as she rose back up from the ground.

"Since it's a blunt weapon, you need to grip the handle, step forward and swing."

The boar grunted at her. This time, she tried the steps I provided. Her hammer began to glow a blue colour, and then a white.

She unleashed her swing only moments before the boar reached her with a charge of its own, sending it flying a few meters backwards.

It hit the ground, lifeless, then burst into many shards of light.

Lisbeth grinned at her successful skill execution, turning to me, "Did you see that?"

"I did," I responded.

"Geez," She sighed, "You could at least be a little more enthusiastic about it."

"Hmm… Well, I was a little surprised at the amount of knockback the boar received. Is that good enough?"

She contemplated it for a moment, "I guess."

"Now that I think about it, we should probably have formed a party. We'll level up quicker."

She nodded, and I opened the menu, inviting her to a party. A holographic screen popped up in front of her and she pressed the blue circle to accept it.

Her name, along with her health bar, popped up in the top right.

"Okay, let's get back to it then," I said and she nodded once more in agreement.

I took a single step forwards before a loud ringing sound stopped me dead.

"What?"

"Huh?"

Lisbeth and I shouted out simultaneously.

I turned to look at her, noticing that she donned the same wide-eyed expression as I.

We were both enveloped in a bright light that hurt my eyes.

This was strange. Neither I nor Lisbeth had the correct item to perform such a task, and stepping forwards was definitely not the command to do so.

A forced teleport?

Why?

* * *

The light faded and I quickly scanned the area. No longer a luscious green field, instead I was met with a familiar medieval town.

It was the Town of Beginnings…?

"H-huh?"

I turned to see Lisbeth beside me and felt a sense of relief. In a short moment, more and more people were brought to what I identified as the starting point.

This was, not only a forced teleport, but a mass teleport?

A short, tense silence quickly broke into a sea of murmurs that rose into near shouting.

"What's happening?"

"Why am I here?"

"I was just about to level up!"

Lisbeth had a face that mixed a large amount of confusion with worry. I thought to say something to attempt to calm her down, even in the slightest.

"Don't worry, Lisbeth… Th-this is probably some sort of welcoming event or something."

Even though she nodded at my words, I could tell she was uneasy about the situation. I felt the same.

"Hey… look up!"

Someone screamed abruptly, plunging the area into silence.

Lisbeth and I raised our eyes, and were met with a worrying sight.

What was the bottom of the second floor was now materialising into a red checker board pattern. I looked closer, and noticed that two pieces of English text made up the pattern. The words WARNING and SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT were in a red font.

This eased my tension slightly. It looked like this was going to be a welcome event. The square was without noise at this point.

What happened next reinstated the tension in me, however.

An ooze of crimson began to pool in the centre of the pattern, similar to a drop of blood. The drop suddenly changed shape.

A giant person, at least eighteen metres tall and clad in a robe with a crimson hood, emerged.

However, something was off. Though we were looking up to it at an angle that should have made the face visible, there was nothing there aside from an empty space of black. The same applied to the long, baggy sleeves.

This robe was familiar.

To be specific, it was the outfit worn by official Argus GMs during the beta test. Even then, the darkness that occupied the hood filled me with a near unbearable anxiety.

Mutterings began arising once more.

"Why doesn't he have a face?"

"Is that a GM?"

An arm, the right arm, of the robe rose upwards, bringing silence once more and revealing white glove that was unattached to the robe and filled with only emptiness.

The second arm rose in turn, looming over the ten thousand people within the area.

And then, the deep, calm voice of a man's voice broke the silence.

"Welcome to my world, dear players."

_His _world?

I continued staring at the large GM robe in disbelief.

"My name is Kabaya Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the only human being alive with control over this world."

"Wha…?" I couldn't comprehend the meaning behind his words.

And not only that, but Kabaya Akihiko?

This was the executive director of SAO, and the one who designed the basic function of the NerveGear unit. He was not only brilliant, but a highly respected figure within the gaming world.

I also respected this man greatly, buying magazines and often reading his interviews.

But, this wasn't like him.

He was not one to step into the spotlight like this. He'd never be the person to take an active GM role.

Just why?

"You have likely noticed by now that the log-out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug. I repeat, this is not a bug—it is a feature of Sword Art Online."

I gasped, quickly opening the main menu to see that his words were true.

The log-out button was not there.

When I'd press the empty area, my menu would simply close.

"From this point onwards, you will be unable to freely log out of the game until the summit of this castle is conquered."

It felt as if the hood without a face was grinning down upon us.

"Furthermore, the NerveGear cannot be removed or shut down via external means. If forceful means of exit are attempted…"

A pause.

I held my breath in apprehension of the next set of words.

"... the high-powered microwaves emitted by the NerveGear will scramble your brain and shut down your vital processes."

I was in a near transient state of shock.

If the NerveGear were to be removed from one's head, or the power turned off, we would be killed.

This wasn't something that I wanted to process.

His declaration was absurd. Something that I wanted to think, but I couldn't bring myself to agree with the thought.

Kabaya continued his announcement.

"To be more specific, the brain-frying sequence will commence upon any of the following circumstances: ten minutes of no external power; two hours of network disconnection; removal, dismantling, or destruction of the NerveGear. The authorities and media in the outside world have already announced the details of these conditions to the general public. At present, the friends and family of several players have already ignored these warnings and attempted to forcefully remove their NerveGears, the result being…"

He paused for a breath.

"... that sadly, two hundred and thirteen players have already been permanently retired from both Aincrad and the real world."

This couldn't be…

My mind wanted to resist his words, but there was a feeling that just would not go away.

Two hundred and thirteen players, all of whom were playing only minutes ago, were already dead.

These people, that might have participated in the beta test, that I might have known, were killed?

Kabaya once more continued, disregarding the reactions he received.

"There is no need to worry about your physical bodies back in the real world. The current state of the game and today's fatalities have been covered far and wide on television, radio, and the Internet. The danger that someone will forcefully remove your NerveGear is already much diminished. The two-hour offline leeway period should provide enough time for your physical bodies to be transported to hospitals and other long-term care facilities with proper security, eliminating concerns over your physical well-being. You may rest assured… and focus on conquering the game."

A voice from some ways in front suddenly erupted from the silence.

"What do you mean? Conquer the game? You expect us to just sit back and enjoy the game when we can't even log out?"

I looked over to see the black haired boy glaring at the robe.

"This isn't even a game anymore!"

As if he heard the boy's voice, Kabaya Akihiko continued in a disturbing monotony.

"However, please proceed with caution. As of this moment, Sword Art Online is no longer a game to you. It is another reality. The standard means of player resurrection will no longer function as they did previously. When your hit points dwindle to zero, your avatar will be permanently deleted…"

The next words that came out were known to everyone before even being spoken.

"... and the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

My eyes jumped to the bar that represented my health. The numbers 316/316 popped up when I did so.

This was my remaining life.

If it were to hit 0, I would really die. It wasn't a case of hitting 0 and then respawning back at the Blackiron Palace perfectly fine, able to continue as if nothing had happened.

That wouldn't happen.

We would die forever.

There were no second chances.

No trial and error tactics.

Kabaya's horrid voice spoke up once more.

"There is one condition through which you can be freed from this game. Simply reach the hundredth floor at the pinnacle of Aincrad and defeat the final boss who awaits you there. In that instant, all surviving players will be able to safely log out once again."

Clear the hundredth floor?

How was that possible?

The beta testers had barely managed past the start of the game, let alone the hundredth floor. The thousand of us, in a two-month period, had only cleared the sixth floor. There may have been ten times more people, but there was the added stipulation of death that would forever loom over us.

I couldn't believe it.

Just hours ago, I'd talked with sister, and I'd eaten with my family the home-cooked lunch made by my mother.

Now, I couldn't log out? I was unable to return to them?

I didn't want to accept it with every bit of my being.

"Finally, let me prove to you that this world is now your one and only reality. I've prepared a gift for all of you. You may find it in your item storage."

I swiped the menu open, without thought, and opened the inventory tab.

A new item, labelled "Hand Mirror", resided there. I tapped the Materialise button and, with a sparkling sound effect, a small square mirror placed onto the ground.

I slowly picked it up, looking into it and seeing nothing but my created avatar.

With confusion, I turned to face Lisbeth who, like me and everyone else, was staring into the mirror.

A white light suddenly surrounded Lisbeth, along with other people and then followed by me. Then, after a few moments had passed, it faded, revealing the Town of Beginnings once more.

But, something was off.

I looked to Lisbeth and saw the same hair, eyes and clothing, but I saw a completely different face than from before. Her facial features had become less sharp, and her eyes had changed quite a bit.

"L-Lisbeth…?" The question left my mouth without thought.

The girl looked to me, her eyes becoming wide.

"Wh-who are _you_?"

I looked in confusion, before it clicked. Turning the mirror I still held in my hands, I saw a _completely _different person than before.

What was once short, black hair was now slightly longer and completely white. The sharp dark blue eyes were now much rounder and coloured red. A facial structure that was no longer sharp, instead being soft, rounded and relatively girly.

It was no longer a heroic looking Blanc, instead it was…

… My real-life self.

"Me…?"

I looked up to Lisbeth once more.

"You're Lisbeth?"

She seemed to have realised it, and shouted rather loudly.

"_You're Blanc_?"

Another shock dawned on me. Our voices were completely different, the voice-filter function having apparently stopped working. I managed to push this thought aside, being of little concern to our situation.

I glanced around the no longer rainbow coloured sea of humanity.

Instead, it had become the dull shades of real life.

How did this happen?

No longer were we imaginative characters, but we were now our real-life appearances. Not only that, genders had changed and a lot of heights and body types had been altered. Lisbeth and I didn't change too much in those aspects, having set our heights to around the same as our own. I still stood only a centimetre or two above her.

The voice of the GM spoke out for what would be the last time.

"You are likely asking yourselves, why? Why would Kabaya Akihiko, developer of SAO and the NerveGear unit, do such a thing? Is it an act of terrorism? An elaborate kidnapping to extract ransom money? What I seek is neither of these things. I have no goals or justifications at this moment. In fact, this very situation _was _my ultimate goal. I created the NerveGear and SAO precisely in order to build this world and observe it. I have now achieved that aim."

After a short moment of what felt like some sort of emotion to his voice, Kabaya returned to his monotonous way of speaking.

"This concludes the tutorial phase of Sword Art Online. I wish you the best of luck, dear players."

The crimson robe then ascended back into the system warnings, ending with a single ripple. Soon after, the checker box of messages disappeared in an instant.

A breeze blew over the square, with the BGM from an NPC band came in from afar.

The game resumed as if nothing had just happened.

An eruption of noise finally broke out from the crowd of players.

"What the hell! Let me out of this!"

"Please… I can't leave my family!"

"This can't be happening! Let me out, let me out!"

It was complete chaos.

We fell to our knees, clenched our fists, held our heads, and did much more in a state of complete despair.

People cried and begged, pleading that none of this was real and it was all an elaborate joke. We flat out denied the fact that this was all true.

But, we all knew it was.

Each person, despite their denial, knew that everything Kabaya Akihiko said was true.

I had to accept this fact, that death would follow close behind with every action, waiting for its chance to claim us.

Looking to Lisbeth once more, she was on the ground and close to tears.

Through my own disdain, I walked over to her and crouched down beside her, her attention drawing towards me.

"Lisbeth, let's go."

Without waiting for a response, I grabbed her arm and helped her up, turning and making for the exit.

She complied and followed me close behind.

* * *

We made our way through the crowd and to a spot without anyone around, so I was able to tell her my plans without interruption.

"Okay, first thing we've got to do is calm down. Take a few deep breaths and try to clear our minds."

"R-right…"

We did so, drawing in a couple of breaths and taking the time to calm down so that we'd be able to think rationally.

After a few minutes of easiness, I continued speaking.

"We're going to have to accept the fact that we can die if we're not careful. It's best that we set out to level up as quickly as possible, given the limited resources that the game provides. So, I think that we should keep together until we're past the low level danger."

She brought a hand up to her chin and pondered.

"It sounds like that's the best course of action," She said, agreeing, "Okay. We'll work together."

Lisbeth extended her hand out for a handshake. In response, I reached out and grabbed it.

"I'll do our best."

"Me too."

And so, the tremendous challenge that was Sword Art Online had started.

The adventure had begun.

* * *

**I really like the premise behind Sword Art Online, so writing a story like this was something I've wanted to do for a while. **

**Now I've finally gotten around to it, so yay.**

**As for the plot, t****here won't be any major changes to already established events in the timeline. In other words, Kirito's story will continue like normal. ****Think of this as a side story.**

**With this said, I hope to see you in the next chapter.**


	2. Blacksmith

**Chapter 2 is here! I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

The White Fox

02

Blacksmith

* * *

I brought up my dagger to prepare for the use of one of my Sword Skills; Rapid Bite. It was one of the first Sword Skills a One Handed Dagger user would learn, so it wasn't anything too special, but it did manage in doing a fair bit of damage to the 1st Floor monsters.

My dagger shined a brilliant blue colour as the ram began to charge forth. I stepped forwards and thrust with the dagger, a sudden momentum making my entire body take off with speed and meeting the ram in the middle of the open plain. My dagger connected with it, and I continued moving for a few moments before finally coming to a rest around three metres from the point of connection.

Due to the short Post-Motion, I was only able to hear the ram burst into fragments. A large set of text popped up.

Congratulation!

LV UP! Blanc

2 ▶ 3

A smile made its way onto my face as I dismissed the notification to reveal another window.

Result

Exp: 40

Cor: 35

Items: 1

Battle Ram Hide

I dismissed the translucent window and turned to Lisbeth, who was also with a readout in front of her, "Did you get what you're looking for?" I asked.

"Yeah," She responded, closing the window and signalling for me to follow her, "I can finally do it."

The date was November 15.

It had been a little over a week week since the game of Sword Art Online had become a reality, and, from what I had heard, three hundred people had already been killed. A statistic that did nothing to fill the ten thousand trapped in the game with hope.

I decided that it'd be best to not actively think about those who died. Sure, it sounded a bit cruel and heartless, but it was a reasonable way to aid me in keeping a level head. After all, a single mistake could cost me my life and I wasn't willing to risk it by having a clouded mind.

For the past few days, Lisbeth had suddenly started to take charge in our little party.

She began to drag me around in search of specific items, but she wouldn't tell me why. Or, I'd never ask why.

Either way, I didn't actually know what she was planning to do, and that was probably a problem.

We were currently in a somewhat forested area, relatively flat in terms of elevation and with grass of a healthy green. It was around midday, which bathed the area plenty of light.

I had to admit, Sword Art Online was very beautiful. The landscapes were all breathtaking and vivid in colour, buildings were of an architectural mastery, and the effects were stunning to look at. If only we hadn't the constant fear of dying looming over ourselves with every given second, many people would have likely spent hours upon hours just taking a scenic tour around Aincrad.

Lisbeth led me through to the end of the forest and we eventually entered the nearby town of Horunka. Not many people had made it to here, so the population of players currently within the town was quite low.

We entered a smithery of sorts, and she quickly scuttled over to a furnace that was no exception to the medieval stylisation that Sword Art Online had.

"What are you planning to do?" I asked, standing and watching her with curiosity.

"I'm going to try and smith something," She opened her menu as she answered. pressing a button and bringing up another window.

"Oh?"

The next part was quite a sight. A dark grey metal of some sort appeared inside the furnace and instantly began glowing a brighter and brighter shade of red. Within minutes, it was a very bright yellow. Lisbeth materialised a large pair of tongs and grabbed the molten metal, walking over to a black anvil and placing it down. A window popped up in front of her and she selected one of the options. I wasn't able to read it though, since it was mirrored from my viewpoint.

She began pounding away at the metal with a hammer, and it slowly began to morph into the shape of a weapon of sorts. A couple of whacks later, and an end product was formed. It was a basic looking dagger, with a dark grey blade and a black hilt. I glanced over to Lisbeth to see a large grin on her face.

She looked to me and continued her answer to my question, "My parents own a small retail business, so it kind of became my dream to open up a shop of my own. Now that we're stuck in SAO, I can't exactly do that any more, can I? But then I thought, 'What if I open up a shop _inside _SAO?' and decided to become a blacksmith. It's a great idea, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," I responded. With that look she gave me, there was no way I could have not said yes. Though, it _was _a good idea anyway.

"And..." She donned a somewhat sombre face for a moment, "... It'll help me deal with the fact that I'm stuck in this game."

A solemn atmosphere suddenly grew between the both of us. Her way of thinking was good, since having a goal to work towards would likely increase your odds of survival. If you felt you had a purpose in life, you'd want to keep that life. But, it was also true that we were unable to leave. We couldn't go back to our real lives and families. That thought always saddened me.

"U-um... a-anyway," Lisbeth spoke up awkwardly, "I want to give this to you."

She grabbed the dagger and handed it to me, a feeling of discomfort quickly arising in me as I looked down at the dagger she held out.

"Are you not going to take it?"

"A-ah, I am," I reached out and accepted the dagger she presented, "But are you okay with that? Shouldn't you have made something for yourself?"

Lisbeth shook her head in response to my questions, "No, I want you to have it. It's my first attempt at weapon crafting, so it's probably pretty bad, but I want to make my own smith shop with the intention of selling high grade weaponry to other players."

I once again looked down to the dagger. Aside from colour differences, the general shape of it was not that different from the Iron Dagger I currently possessed. I strengthened my grip on the hilt, "... Thank you."

"It's called Initial Dagger, because I couldn't think of anything, but you'd better treat it well," It sounded like an order towards the end.

"I will."

* * *

The first full month of life within Sword Art Online was about to pass. It was now December 2, and both Lisbeth and I were closing in on reaching level 12. Or, at least I was. Lisbeth had been focusing on her Smithing Skills as of late, to the point where she had ended up a level behind me and was instead nearly reaching level 11.

The total death count within SAO had reached two thousand players. At this point, the task that had been set by Kabaya Akihiko was looking impossible for most.

However, a massive discovery within the last few days may have set in motion what we needed to rekindle our hope.

The 1st Floor Labyrinth had been found.

A message was sent to every living player, informing that meeting on how to defeat the Floor Boss was to be held today.

I hadn't actually noticed the message when it was distributed, though.

The only reason I now knew about it was because of Lisbeth.

She had come to me to discuss the message. Or, to be more specific, she came to ask if I was going to respond to it.

"Hey, Blanc!" Lisbeth's voice called out from behind as I was taking a stroll down a dirt path near Horunka.

I turned around in response to my name to see her running over to me, "What is it?"

When she reached me, I noted that she held a strangely serious look.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"You got the message, didn't you?" She asked somewhat hurriedly.

"Message?" I repeated in confusion.

"The message from a player called Diavel."

I continued my questioning glance, before swiping two fingers down to bring up the menu.

"Eh?"

She was right. My Communications tab was flashing, signifying that I'd received a message.

I pressed on the flashing icon to open the message, which read:

_To the top players of SAO, we invite you to a meeting located at the town of Tolbana. We have recently discovered the location of the 1st Floor's Boss room, and intend to confront the Boss soon. To attempt to prevent possible casualties, a Strategy Conference will be held at 16:00 Aincrad Standard Time._

_We hope that you choose to accept this invitation, as we need as many players as we can get. Thank you, and we'll see you there._

_Diavel_

A feeling of interest piqued up inside of me as I read the message. I closed it afterwards, and looked to Lisbeth.

"16:00 Aincrad Standard Time... that's only a few hours away, right?" I asked, "So we should start going?"

She gave me a strange look in response. If I had to describe it, it'd be a look of... worry...? Or... fear?

"U-um..."

"It... sounds dangerous," Her look this time was definitely a troubled look, "We shouldn't go," Though it wasn't necessarily an order, she had an authoritative tone to her words, "Besides, they'll clear the floor without us, anyway."

"But we could help. They said themselves that they need as many players as they can! We could help prevent casualties!"

"Not if we get added to the list!" Our dispute was quickly growing in volume.

"Lisbeth, we should help."

"The risk is too great!"

She forcefully grabbed onto my shirt, bringing the original distance between us to only a few centimetres. I looked directly into her dark pink eyes, which carried with them a worry of much weight. In a way, it was soothing. Not in the sense that it calmed me down, but in a way that made my thoughts waver.

"W-we won't die..." The words came out rather unconvincingly.

"But what if we do? What if one of us dies?"

"..."

I could tell I had lost.

My original interest had died down to the point where I couldn't formulate a counter to her argument.

"... Fine," I frowned, "We won't go."

In an opposite way, she smiled.

For some reason, the entirety of that argument contained 'we' rather than 'I' or 'you'. It was obvious that I didn't actually need to listen to her and that I could have gone by myself, yet I chose to oblige and to not go.

In fact, up until around three-or-so days ago we'd been doing most things in I's and my's, then it shifted to we's and our's without mention.

Maybe it was because we, after having spent almost a whole month without being separated from each other, had developed some sort of camaraderie.

Maybe we had begun thinking as a pair rather than us and someone else.

Though, this was just speculation on my part. It could just have been me over-thinking things.

Lisbeth released my shirt and took a few steps backwards.

"Well," I sighed, "What'll we do, then?"

"Hm..." She brought up a hand to her chin in thought, "How about we... go do some exploring of our own?"

I raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

* * *

I sat on the fountain within the town of Tolbana, the location that the meeting was to be held, and looked down at dagger Lisbeth's first crafting attempt had created. She was not with me.

When we received the message, I had said to her that we should go.

After that was a small argument about whether we should go or not, leading to us reaching a decision not to go.

But, even so, something was compelling me to participate.

Sure, there may have been little reason for me to go. After all, my presence was most likely going to make little impact to the end result.

It may have been pointless.

But the possibility that I was needed was still there, no matter how slim.

I wouldn't be able to rest knowing that people might have ended up dead because they lacked just one person.

And, because of this, I ended up sneaking away from the small two person camp Lisbeth and I had set up in a relatively nearby field when we decided to rest for a while.

I left her a message to inform her that I had done so.

Probably not the best way to tell her when I thought about it.

She was going to be very angry when we'd meet each other again.

"I'll face her wrath when I get there..." I muttered to myself.

If I were to be honest, I was sort of relieved that she wasn't with me.

Lisbeth was definitely strong enough to take care of herself, and her not participating meant that I knew she'd be safe.

Even so, there was a lingering feeling of loneliness with me as I toyed around with the dagger. We were with each other for a whole twenty eight days, only separated for hours at the most, and even then we weren't that far away from each other. It was just... strange, her not being with me.

Through my musing, I could feel multiple sets of eyes staring at me. Glancing upwards, I watched as around twelve heads quickly averted their gaze.

"..."

I let out a sigh.

They were probably staring at me due to my unnatural pure white hair colour. It wouldn't have been strange if there were a way of customising one's hair colour dyes or something, but, as there was no such method of doing so that was known, it definitely stood out from the sea of blacks, browns, reds and yellows.

There was scientific reasoning behind my white hair and red eyes, though. Apparently it was this disorder known as 'albinism', which turned one's hair white and their eyes red, both features that I possessed. It also gave eye problems, but I had somehow managed to dodge that part.

Anyway, I had gotten used to the staring by this point, so I ignored them and returned to playing with the dagger.

Everyone present was eventually called into an open Greek styled amphitheatre.

Two loud claps echoed from the centre of the stage, causing the murmuring of voices to die down as a blue haired man began the meeting.

"Okay, let's get started, people! Thank you for coming today," He brought up a hand and tapped his chest, "I'm Diavel, and my class is Knight!"

The crowd broke out in a laugh, "You meant Hero, right?" I heard one call out.

Diavel continued.

"Well then, the active front liners, or rather, the top players of SAO, the reason for gathering you all here is clear. Today, our party has made it to the 1st Floor's Boss room! We'll finally use our power to defeat the boss! The time to open the door to the 2nd Floor has come! At this point, even though we took a whole month... we must spread the message that this game of death will end one day. It is why we gather here today! This is the duty of us high-level players! Isn't that right, everyone!?"

People began looking to each other, a murmur of assent growing in volume as they began clapping in response.

"All right, then let us begin our planning," Diavel announced, "First, divide into parties of six."

A gasp escaped my lips.

That was a problem.

Everyone else was quickly forming parties, leaving no room for an outsider like me to join.

Diavel's voice sounded over the players as they discussed their parties.

"An ordinary party has no chance against a Floor Boss. We'll need to form a raid group using multiple parties."

Okay, I needed to do something.

I frantically scanned the amphitheatre, and noticed a cloaked girl sitting by herself. It appeared as if she had been left out, too. I scooted closer to her, and opened my mouth, just about to suggest partying up, before a black haired boy beat me to it.

"You both got left out, too?" He asked.

I was about to agree only to get cut off once again, this time by the girl cloaked in a brown cloth.

"I wasn't left out. I just stayed out of it because everyone seemed to know each other already."

"... I was left out," I mumbled, though only barely at an audible level.

"Solo players?" The boy asked. I wasn't in a party any more, so I guess it was true. I hesitantly nodded in response, "Then, want to form a party with me?"

The girl turned her head to face him, and he continued.

"He said we can't beat the boss on our own. So just for this fight?"

We both nodded in silent agreement, and the boy sent an invite to both of us. I pressed the blue circle to accept, two green health bars appearing in the top right of my vision, the upper with Kirito and the lower with Asuna. From the names, I made the assumption that Kirito was the boy and Asuna was the girl.

"Okay, have you formed your parties? Then—"

"Just a second!"

All of the heads within the amphitheatre turned to face the new voice. A man, with some sort of a orange coloured cactus hairstyle, jumped down the steps, with a delinquent look on his face. When he reached the stage, he faced Diavel and pointed to himself.

"My name is Kibaou. I wanna say something before we take on the boss," He then turned his attention to the crowd, "Some of you need to apologise to the two thousand who have died so far!"

My eyes narrowed at his comment.

"Kibaou-san, are you referring to the beta testers?" Diavel questioned.

"Of course I am!" Kibaou responded, "On the day this stupid game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners, and they all disappeared. They took all the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger. And then, they just ignored the rest of us. I'm sure someone here was in the beta!" He yelled, raising his fist to the crowd then pointing, "They should get on their knees and apologise, and give up all the items and money they've hoarded. Otherwise, we can't trust them to protect us as party members, and they shouldn't trust us!"

His demands were getting more idiotic as he spoke. I, in turn, was getting more annoyed. How was this our fault? What made the deaths of two thousand players our responsibility?

I couldn't say for other beta testers, but the first thing I did was help out a new player.

"May I speak?"

The deep voice cut through my thoughts, and a dark skinned man rose from his seat. He made his way down to Kibaou, revealing his towering height in doing so.

"My name is Agil," He said, "Kibaou-san, tell me if I have this right. You're saying that because the beta testers didn't take care of them, many beginners died. That they should take responsibility, apologise, and provide compensation. Correct?"

"Y-yeah," Kibaou stuttered in his response.

Agil reached into his pocket and brought out a small brown book. For some reason, it looked familiar...

... Wasn't that the guidebook that one of the beta testers made? Argo-san, I think her name was.

"You got this guidebook, didn't you?" Agil questioned, confirming my thought as he did so, "It was provided for free at the item store."

"Sure, I did... why?"

"It was compiled from information given by the beta testers."

Surprised and disbelief rose from the crowd, "Seriously?" One asked in astonishment.

Kibaou gritted his teeth, and Agil turned to the crowd and continued.

"Listen. Everyone had equal access to this information. And even still, many players died. I thought the topic of discussion here was what we could learn from their deaths, and how that could help us defeat the boss."

He looked to Kibaou, who, with a visible face of displeasure, grunted in indignation and stormed off to take a seat. Agil followed suit and sat beside him.

"All right. Then, can we resume?" Diavel asked after the interruption, everyone nodding in consent, "The latest edition of that guidebook was just issued, and it contains information on the boss. According to it, the boss's name is Illfang The Kobold Lord. He is guarded by assistants known as Ruin Kobold Sentinels. He is armed with an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one enters the red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a Talwar. His attack pattern changes, as well."

Muttering in the crowd slowly rose in volume as he read from the guidebook.

"Wow..."

"Amazing."

Diavel closed the guidebook, "This concludes the briefing. Lastly, items will be automatically distributed. Exp goes to the party that defeats the monster. And whoever receives an item keeps it. Any objections?"

Without a response, he gave his final words.

"Okay, we leave tomorrow, at ten in the morning. See you there!"

The group of players who were now the front-line fighters began to leave in all directions. Some stayed, though most left, presumably to prepare for the upcoming battle.

I turned to face the two others that made up my party, only to find that the girl had already left, leaving me and Kirito by ourselves.

As no words seemed like they were going to be spoken, I stood up to leave, stopping at the edge of the seat when I decided to ask him something.

"Kirito-san... Weren't you the guy who called out back at the start of the game?"

"Huh?" He gave me a confused look for a second, then realised what I was talking about, "Oh, yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Ah, nothing. I just wanted to know."

In all honesty, I was really trying to get a conversation going. It didn't really work, though.

I inwardly sighed at my failure, beginning on the direction to exit the amphitheatre.

The next few days were looking to be eventful, that was for sure.

* * *

**Thus ends the second chapter. How'd it go?**

**Within only two chapters, this has a higher total word count than both of my other stories.**

**Maybe that could be considered a good thing because it means I've increased my overall chapter length, right...? Who knows.**

**Anyway, I hope you'll be here for the next chapter!**


	3. The 1st Floor Boss

**I present to you, chapter 3!**

* * *

The White Fox

03

The 1st Floor Boss

* * *

I sat in silence beside Asuna, neither one of us really making any effort to try and start any sort of a conversation. The day had transitioned into night, and we had taken residence on a garden ledge of sorts. Unlike me, this girl was what one would call a solo player.

It was quite obvious that she was, actually. Everything she did was without a single word. Though I wasn't really one who'd talk without prompt, this girl sometimes wouldn't talk even when being talked to directly.

Even now, as we ate away at our meals, not a word was uttered.

"It's pretty tasty, isn't it?"

We both turned to face the black haired boy.

"May I sit down?"

Asuna didn't give a response, simply looking away from Kirito and returning to her meal. Kirito took a place beside her, taking out a loaf of bread that matched her's. As he did so, she shuffled away from him, as if she disliked his presence.

"Do you really think it's good?" She asked. I was surprised that she'd chosen to speak up, after we'd been in silence for at least a few minutes.

"Of course," Kirito responded, "I've been eating at least one daily, ever since arriving in this town. I do change it up a little, though."

"Change it up?" Asuna repeated with curiosity.

He reached into his pocket and placed a brown jar onto the brick ledge.

"Try putting some on the bread."

She lightly tapped on the lid, letting out a small noise of surprise when a blue orb of light formed around her finger. Slowly, she traced her finger down the bread and a thick trail of something forming as she did so.

This was...

"Cream?" Asuna questioned at the moment I thought it.

Kirito proceeded to apply cream to his own bun, destroying the jar item in the process, and began eating away.

Asuna brought up the cream covered bread to her mouth and hesitantly chomped down. A few seconds passed, without anything happening, before she suddenly changed pace and devoured the whole loaf within seconds. She let out a breath of satisfaction.

"It's the reward for a quest called 'The Heifer Strikes Back', one village behind us," Kirito explained, "If you want to do it, I'll show you the trick."

She shook her head in response, stating, "I didn't come to this town to eat good food."

"Then, why did you?"

"So I can still be me," She answered, "I'd rather stay myself until the very end than sit and rot away at an inn, back in the first town," She clasped her hands together and continued, "Even if I get killed by a monster, I don't want to lose to this game... to this world. No matter what..."

Kirito threw the remainder of the bread into his mouth and swallowed, "I wouldn't want a party member dying on me. So at the least, don't die tomorrow," He then directed his gaze to me, "The same goes for you."

I gave him a soft smile.

"It's not something I plan on doing," I said, finishing my un-creamed bread and frowning, "You could have let me try some of that cream..."

He laughed, "Sorry, maybe next time."

"I'll take your word for it."

The chat continued for a fair while into the night, eventually trailing off into a silence fuelled by individual thought.

I wasn't sure what it was for them, but for me it was manly about what was to come tomorrow.

This was going to be a monumental challenge for everyone involved, and we were uncertain how many lives would be lost.

Hopefully, I wasn't going to be on that list.

* * *

It was December 3, 2022.

The day where we were to face the 1st Floor Boss.

"Let's go over it again," Kirito said as we walked through a forest on the path to the Labyrinth, "We leftovers are supposed to target the boss's helpers, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels."

"I know," Asuna replied.

"I'll use a Sword Skill to knock their pole axes up. The second I do, switch in."

"Switch?"

We both turned to her in surprise.

"Is... this the first time you've been in a party?" I asked.

"Yes."

Kirito and I shared a tentative look and slowed down to a stop. Asuna kept moving for a few more paces before finally turning around, with Kirito slouching down in defeat.

Eventually, we made it to a large door that marked the entrance to the Boss room.

Diavel put his sword into the ground.

"Listen up, everyone. I have only one thing to say. Let's win!"

Everyone present had a shared feeling of determination, with little in regards to worry or hesitation.

"Let's go!"

He pushed the door, and it slowly opened with a squeak.

Though originally lit only by the torches on the wall in the previous room, the area quickly brightened and transitioned into colour, revealing a large red boar. It roared with might, multiple Sentinels summoning nearly instantly as they charged forwards.

"Commence attack!"

We split up into seven groups and started a charge of our own, eventually meeting in the middle of the room with a clash.

Diavel called commands constantly, everyone at this point engaged in some kind of combat.

Kirito striked at a Sentinel, pushing its weapon upwards as planned.

"Switch!"

In compliance, Asuna raced forwards, her rapier glowing a green-blue as she released a short and quick barrage on the Sentinel and defeated it. She was definitely better than I expected.

"Good job!" I called.

Another Sentinel quickly bared in my direction, and I readied myself to combat it. It swung its axe downwards and I managed to sidestep it, avoiding a potential loss of heath. A clang rang out as it made contact with the ground, and I quickly began an attack of my own, continuously slicing and chipping away at its health bar. The dodge and hit exchange continued for a while until it suddenly made an attempt at a Sword Skill, missing and leaving itself open for the final blow.

I made use of the Sentinel's Post-Motion, using the time to initiate Rapid Bite. The Sentinel flew back a metre when I connected, exploding into bluish-white fragments.

Kirito gave a nod, and we continued the battle against the ever spawning Sentinels. We were unexpectedly successful in keeping our pattern the same, where Kirito would knock the weapon up and Asuna would quickly finish it off, while I'd keep others from trying to attack them. Admittedly, I was much slower than them in doing so, but in my defence I was by myself.

When the latest was defeated, I took the opportunity to check on the progress with Illfang.

To my surprise, it was actually down to the red on its last health bar.

We were winning!

Illfang let out a roar and threw away its weapons, meaning it was following the guidebook by the letter.

"Stand back," Diavel's voice suddenly called, "I'll go!" He said, rushing forwards to attack.

Wait, that wasn't right.

Wasn't the plan to surround it with the entire group?

Diavel stood in front of Illfang, charging a Sword Skill that glowed a bright yellow colour.

It responded by taking out its second weapon, the Talw—

—Wait, that wasn't a Talwar... it was a completely different weapon?!

"No!"

Kirito yelled, as Diavel once more charged forth.

"Jump back as fast as you can!"

Illfang jumped back to one of the many pillars within the room, moving between them rapidly, then dropped down and slashed diagonally at Diavel, connecting squarely on his chest. He cried out, and it continued its assault, hitting him on the back and them jumping up once more.

"Diavel!"

We retreated to where he was now laid out, watching his red health drain into nothingness.

"Why did you try to do it alone?" Kirito took out a health potion and attempted to heal him, but Diavel stopped his hand. A painful feeling arose from me when he did so.

"You were..." Diavel breathed, "A beta tester, weren't you? You know what I was doing."

Both Kirito and I gasped.

We knew exactly what he meant.

"... The final attack bonus," The words that came out of my mouth weren't needed. A question as to why wasn't asked, as it was already answered.

The smile he donned was pained, yet honest. His words were strained, "Please... defeat... defeat the boss... for everyone..."

A final nod, and his body grew bright and burst into fragments.

He had died.

Kirito and I stayed still, with a mixture of shock and sorrow that tore away at our hearts.

This had just happened.

Someone died.

Really...

This was my first experience with death, both in Sword Art Online and in real life. It was heart-rending. Someone's mind had just been fried in the real world. He was truly dead. I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it. But...

I...

I knew it was true.

And knowing this pained me.

"I'll go, too," Asuna said, taking a position beside Kirito.

I tightened my grip on my dagger, turning to face the killer, Illfang.

"Me, too."

Kirito glanced to both of us, "Thanks."

The three of us then dashed forwards with speed.

"We'll do it just like the Sentinels," He said.

"Got it."

"Roger."

Illfang turned its attention to us, bringing its large blade down with force. In turn, Kirito swung upwards and managed to knock its weapon up, as he'd done with the Sentinels.

"Switch!"

Asuna prepared her strike, but I noticed the beast's red eye open.

"Asuna!" I yelled.

The moment hesitation she responded with may have been what saved her life, as the beast missed what was a powerful move by less than a fraction of a centimetre, to the point where Asuna's cloak was blown off of her and destroyed. Her now free waist length orange hair swayed, and she struck at Illfang with enough force to send it staggering backwards.

She prepared for the next attack, her hair flowing and sparkling, with a face of beauty and calm. We stood in a sort of trance before Kirito noticed the beast starting to move again.

"It's coming back!"

The three engaged, with Kirito and Asuna managing to land a few hits. However, as Kirito attempted to knock the weapon up, Illfang changed course and swung its weapon upwards, catching Kirito by surprise. It connected, sending Kirito flying backwards, collecting Asuna and sending them both to the ground.

Illfang drew closer, drawing its blade up and preparing to finish them off. I jumped in between, raising up my dagger and preparing to tank the blow.

Even with nothing but a dagger, I was not going to let it hit them.

The sword was brought down and I braced for the impact.

"Rrraaaaah!"

A clang followed the battle cry as I looked up to see a large two handed axe block the blow. Continuing down, a large, dark skinned man stood tall.

"Go!" Agil commanded and then turned to us, a group of players running to the stunned Illfang, "We'll hold him off 'till you recover!"

I couldn't help but smile, having just escaped a possible death.

The players swarmed, attacking from all angles, until they were knocked onto the ground. The beast jumped up and prepared an attack.

Kirito sprung upwards and jumped, his sword glowing blue.

"I'll get you first!" He yelled, connecting with Illfang and cutting it multiple times.

It landed with a thud, a cloud of white dust flying upwards. Kirito landed himself and continued his advance.

"Asuna! Blanc! One last hit! The three of us'll do it together!"

"Right!"

"Roger!"

Neither me nor Asuna wasted a moment, joining Kirito in his attack.

Kirito blocked its swing attempt, directing the motion upwards. Asuna then swiftly struck multiple times, causing its grip on the nodachi to waver. I ran up it and slashed at the elbows, the nodachi falling out of its hand and loudly hitting the ground. Kirito then thrust his sword into the beast, cleaving through it and letting out a roar of adrenaline.

Illfang flew upwards for a bit, glowing brighter and brighter before shattering into thousands of blue shards.

A silence blew over.

...

Then...

"W-we did it!"

A cheer erupted from the group.

My knees gave way, and I dropped to the ground, completely at a loss as to what we had just accomplished. Asuna stood in shock, and Kirito was in a crouched position. The three of us were breathing heavily.

"Good work," The voice of Agil said to Kirito, "That was splendid swordsmanship. Congratulations. This victory belongs to you."

I scanned the cheery crowd, a smile of my own forming. But—

"Why?"

The despaired and aggressive call cut short the celebrations. Kibaou, on the ground and near crying, was clearly at a contrast to every other player.

"Why did you let Diavel die?"

"Let him die?" Kirito parroted.

"Of course!" Tears began streaming down his face, "You knew that technique the boss used! If you'd told us about that up front, he wouldn't have died!"

"He must be a beta tester!" Another man chose to join in, pointing at him as he exclaimed, "That's how he knew all the boss's attack patterns. He knew, but he didn't tell us!"

The man continued his rant, this time directing it towards everyone else in the room.

"Other beta testers are here, too, right? Come out!"

This wasn't good. If they were to continue with their rants, things could turn ugly really quick.

What was a celebrating crowd just moments ago was now warily eyeing each other down.

"Hey, come on..." Agil attempted to reason, but a sudden sound of laughter cut him off.

Something was off, though.

It wasn't a happy or cheerful laughter, it was a kind of terrifyingly crazed and cynical cackle that made me shiver. When I looked to the voice, my surprise grew tremendously, as the one laughing was none other than Kirito himself.

"A beta tester?" He asked with a condescending tone, slowly raising from his crouched position, "I wish you wouldn't compare me to those newbies."

I could only stare at him with shock, a strange feeling of cold blowing over me.

Kirito began taking slow and loud steps towards Kibaou, "Most of the thousand beta testers were beginners who didn't even know how to level up. You guys are better than they are. But I'm not like them," He stopped, "I made it higher than anyone else during the beta test. The reason I knew the boss's skills is because I fought monsters with katana skills on floors far above us."

Wait... that didn't seem right. His reaction to Illfang's nodachi didn't align with what he was saying and how he was saying it. Was he doing this on purpose...?

He donned a dark and evil grin, "I know a lot more. Way more than any information broker."

"W-what...?" Kibaou stammered, "That... that's way worse than a beta tester! You're cheating! A cheater!"

"Yeah, a cheater!" The crowd began to add.

"A beta tester and a cheater... A beater!"

"A beater..." Kirito looked pleased, "I like it," He opened up his menu and went into his inventory, "That's right. I'm a beater. From now on, don't confuse me with the other testers."

He pressed on the final attack bonus item, a cloak, and equipped it. The cloak materialised around him within half a second, adding to his new found sinister appearance. He smirked, and began walking away, leaving everyone with their mouths open.

Asuna started giving chase, and I soon followed suit.

"Wait," She called out, bringing him to a halt on the stairway up to the 2nd Floor, "You called my name when we were fighting. Both of you."

I gave her a funny look, but she didn't move her eyes from him.

"Sorry for using just your first name," Kirito apologised, "Or did I mess up the pronunciation?"

"Where did you learn it?"

I nearly fell over. Did she not know?

"You can see two HP gauges below yours, around here, right?" He asked, pointing up to where the health bar would be, "Isn't something written next to them?"

She looked over to where her health bars were, and said the names out loud.

"Ki-ri-to... Kirito? Is that your name?"

"Yeah."

She let out a giggle, "Oh, it's been there all this time! Huh... B-l-anc... Blanc, right?"

Asuna looked to me and I nodded with a smile.

"You'll be really strong," Kirito stated, "So if someone you trust ever invites you to join a guild, don't turn them down. There's a big limit to what you can do as a solo player," Somewhat unexpectedly, he drew his attention to me for a moment, "You, too."

"Then, what about you?" Asuna asked, but she didn't receive an answer.

Kirito started his walk up the stairway once again, opening the gate and walking through it.

We continued staring into the empty space where he once was, until a notification suddenly popped up.

_The party has been disbanded by the party leader._

I closed the notification and took a breath, making my way to the 2nd Floor entrance.

When I made it to the top, though, I was interrupted by a message notification.

"Oh?"

I pressed on the flashing Communications tab to see who it was from.

Noticing who, I broke into a cold sweat.

It was from Lisbeth.

... Uh-oh.

* * *

**And that's the third chapter. How was it?**

**Writing fight scenes is hard. Especially when I can't really create my own choreography for all of it.**

**But, now that the 1st Floor is cleared, I can have a little more freedom to write.**

**It'd be nice if you're here for it, too!**


	4. Saving and Reuniting

**W-woah! This isn't dead!? That's right, chapter 4 is here to kick off the year!**

* * *

The White Fox

04

Saving and Reuniting

* * *

After dismissing the notification that read SAFE HAVEN, I scanned the immediate area to if anything had changed from the closed beta test.

Urbus was the main city of the 2nd Floor, and, to little surprise on my part, nothing about it seemed glaringly different from what I could remember. It was still set atop the three-hundred-or-so metre wide plateau, each individual building seemingly carved out of the landscape itself.

The sound of a slow-paced oboe filled my ears, in contrast to the strings that made the 1st Floor town BGM. This, coupled with the slight differences in attire worn by the NPCs made it feel as if I had gone to a completely different country which, in a way, was actually a pretty close comparison.

Having only just defeated Illfang, there were no green player-cursors in sight.

This didn't mean I was the only one on the floor though.

No, there was one, and only one, other player currently here.

To be honest, I didn't know where he was. We didn't become friends, so I wasn't able to find him that way, and even then it wouldn't give his exact coordinates.

It made me a little curious. Just where could he have gotten in such a short time? He should have only gotten a few minute head start from when he entered this floor to when I did.

I continued traversing up the northbound main street, trying to see if I could so much as catch a glimpse before he disappeared off to who-knows-where, never to be seen again.

This probably would sound a little strange if I were to say it out aloud, but I wanted to find some form of entertainment before the floor was flooded with players from a soon-to-be activated teleport gate.

Climbing up the wide staircase that lead to the open town centre, I managed to do just that.

A green player-cursor paraded itself over the top of a black-clad person who was reaching out to the stone arch that stood out in what would otherwise be an open area.

The structure began to glow a brilliant blue, pulsing outwards and upwards until it filled the arch completely. Kirito had opened the gate early, which meant that players on the 1st Floor would not have to wait two hours before using the portal to reach this floor.

Before this could happen, Kirito dashed away, toward what appeared to be a church on the eastern side of the centre.

I kept my gaze directed towards the church, though quickly diverted to the scene that was just about to take place in front of me.

Within an instant of me doing so, the portal inside the gate flashed blue, and a group of NPC musicians set up off to the corner to play a welcoming song to the players, called "Opening Fanfare".

A wave of colours spewed out from the blue portal, each with their own reaction to this achievement, though a common emotion of happiness being shared.

Though, I did wonder why Kirito decided to bolt off like that. In the nine times this happened during the closed beta test, the participants of the raid would line up in the middle and enjoy being hailed as celebrities for a moment. Kirito instead took shelter, as if he'd rather not be the one to step up and say they activated the teleport gate. I didn't really understand why.

Unless...

That was right, Kirito had declared himself a Beater right after the floor had been cleared. He'd become a villain to the player base.

I'd come up with a rough understanding as to why he did so: to direct the retail players' hate away from the testers and onto himself.

This was only a hypothesis, with no apparent evidence to back it up, but it was enough for me to believe that he was doing it for a good reason, and enough for me to not consider him a bad person.

When I thought about that, it made sense as to why he didn't stay there.

I sighed, and...

"Coming through!"

... only barely managed to get out of the way of a girl who flew past me, at a speed as if she were being chased.

"Get back here, you damn brat!"

On cue, two rather large men followed suit, their anger obviously directed towards the girl. Urbus was a safe haven, which meant that it was impossible to injure another player here, so it wasn't like they could actually cause her any harm, but it did worry me that she was leading them towards the southern gate, after which they could harm, or even kill her.

I probably would have gone and helped her either way, but this small detail made it a little more urgent and made little time in hesitating my plan of action.

Because the rooftops were almost level with each other, it was easy to get from one to the other, which was something that would provide helpful in keeping track of where they were going, especially since I didn't possess the tracking skill to do so.

I dashed through a nearby building and onto the roof, keeping a close eye on the girl and her two pursuers as I followed them from above.

The chase eventually progressed past the gate and into the narrow and mountainous region that made up the southern section of the second floor. Though flat, the mountains were huge, to the point where they could be seen from the other side of the floor.

From what I managed to observe of the two chasers, one of them was a One-Handed Axe user while the other was a Two-Handed Battle Axe user. The trait shared between them would be their high damage rating but low speed; they could hit hard but not often.

Eventually, the chase lead to what could only be described as a dead end.

The area was flat and narrow, with two of the mountains drawing together and eventually getting close enough where it was impossible to go any further.

I hid myself behind a small formation that jutted out of the left side, peeking out to see what was going on.

Though she was obviously cornered, the girl didn't seem afraid in the slightest. And, now that I could get a better look of her, the first thing I noted was that her skin was a tanned colour. Her braided black hair rested on her shoulder, and her green eyes were filled with a seemingly unshakable determination.

After the man on the left took a step closer, she drew her weapon; a One-Handed Curved Sword.

"Now, now, girly," The left man's tone was of a mocking one, "just put your little sword away and hand it over like a good little girl."

The girl simply shrugged and smirked in response, "Why don't you just take it from me then? After all, I'm just a defenceless little girl, aren't I?"

"Damn you, you little brat!" The left man growled, "You just had to go and make us do it the hard way, didn't you?"

With all three weapons drawn at this point, I felt it was time for me to intervene.

"Hey! Don't you think that you guys could resolve whatever it is you're doing here without fighting?"

I stepped out from my hiding spot as I talked, holding my hands out in a way that showed passivity.

The three turned their heads towards me in near unison.

"... And just who the hell are you?" Asked the man closest to me.

"Ah, well I'm just a... passerby who happened to hear a loud commotion coming from this direction."

I continued for a few more paces until I was close enough to not need to shout.

The man growled, "If you're just a passerby then you should mind your own business, whitey."

Despite my annoyance at the comment, I held my composure.

"Well, even if you say that, is there any reason you should be threatening this girl's life?" I questioned, gesturing to the girl. "She doesn't seem like..."

My voice trailed off when I noticed that they weren't paying attention to me.

The initial confusion as to why was quickly resolved when their expressions changed to somewhere along the lines of fear.

All three of them weren't currently looking at me, no.

They were focused on something _behind _me.

I spun around and was met with a large hammer of sorts speeding directly towards my head.

Out of instinct alone I managed to step out of the way, but it wasn't enough to avoid getting grazed by the hammer.

"Ghh!"

The next thing I knew, I was flying backwards, crashing into the rock face behind me and falling to the ground.

Blurry yellow circles began to appear around my head and I was unable to move no matter how hard I tried.

The knockback of that hammer was unbelievable.

Even though it only barely made contact with me, it'd sent me flying back and inflicted stun.

I managed to catch a glimpse of my health bar in my immobile state; still barely in green.

Because SAO took a lot of variables in account when calculating the damage of a hit, the fact that the attack only barely connected with me was enough to mitigate the damage I took.

Luckily, only about three seconds passed before the stun ailment went away.

I rose to my feet and drew my dagger, finally able to catch a glimpse of the attacker.

A large Minotaur-like monster, around two metres tall with blueish-grey fur and holding the large iron hammer that had a high level of knockback with even the slightest of hits.

This was definitely a Wandering Lessar Taurus.

Despite the "Lessar" in its name, this wasn't a monster you wanted to run into at lower levels because of the sheer amount of damage it could output.

I encountered one during the closed beta test, but I didn't recall it having this much knockback.

With the attacker now identified, I checked on the condition of the other three, only to find that the girl was fighting it by herself.

From the looks of it, the two men decided to flee in favour of their own lives.

I couldn't help but frown as I ran to rejoin the fight.

When I reached them, the Taurus had already began charging a Sword Skill, its hammer glowing an orange colour. I looked to its face and tracked the direction of its eyes down to the girl, preparing a Sword Skill of her own.

I looked to the stances.

The Taurus was in a widened stance, its legs far apart and its hammer held to its back.

On the other hand, the girl was lowered to the ground and her curved sword was raised above her shoulder.

If I recalled correctly, that was the stance to initiate the basic Sword Skill called Reaver.

And the Taurus was charging one called Slam.

I sharpened my gaze.

Something was off.

The distance between the two was too great for a move like Slam to deal damage. But, due to Reaver being a Sword Skill that made the user lunge forward...

Wait, was the Taurus _anticipating _her Sword Skill?

I began moving, my pace growing faster and faster by the second.

"Hey!"

I had to act fast.

If the girl were to successfully release her Reaver, she would get hit directly by the Taurus.

A direct hit from a Sword Skill like Slam from a Taurus at this low a level would do a devastating amount of damage, to the point where she could be risking death.

"Cancel your Sword Skill!" I yelled as I ran towards her.

"What? Why?"

"It's anticipating your attack!"

"Huh?"

However, the hesitation on her part was enough for it to be too late.

Her body moved closer and closer to the ground, and then she aimed her sword downwards.

The skill was activated.

In the moment she began the lunge, her fate would be sealed.

But, there was still a way to stop it.

During a duel in the beta test, I found out that Sword Skills didn't make the user invulnerable to external influences or forces.

In other words, if I were to somehow impede her jump, the Sword Skill would cancel.

If anyone were to hear a plan such as this, they'd call me crazy.

But there wasn't any time to think it over; this girls life was on the line.

I made an internal projection as to where she would be by the time I reached her.

Directly under where the Taurus's Slam would hit.

Which meant that, if I messed this up, we'd both die.

The lunge began and I threw myself forward to try and crash into her.

The Taurus unleashed the Sword Skill, its hammer speeding downwards at an incredibly fast rate.

And...

A loud crash sounded out through the area as I hit her mid-Sword Skill, sending the two of us speeding off to the side in a spectacular manner.

The ground shook momentarily as the heavy blow hit nothing but dirt.

Both the girl and I tumbled across the ground for a few metres before finally coming to a stop.

I stared blankly at the sky before coming back to my senses and looking down to see if it worked.

And, miraculously, it did.

The girl was on the ground near me, her health in the yellow but still alive.

I took a deep breath and rose to my feet once more.

"... That actually worked..."

The girl eventually rose and gave me a surprised look.

"What just happened!?"

I glanced over to the Taurus and saw it coming towards us, and then checked my heath.

It was in the red, likely due to me basically running straight into her Reaver.

"Now's not the time for that, we need to get away from the Taurus."

I took hold of her arm and began guiding her back.

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

* * *

We eventually reached the safety of Marome, a small village southeast of Urbus. It was pretty small, with only a few shops and no blacksmith. I chose to sit down on a nearby bench to gather my thoughts after the strange direction my first time in the 2nd Floor went.

To be honest, I was upset.

Why, one asks?

Well, after the large risk I took to save a girl's life, the moment I took my eyes off her she upped and vanished without a thank you or even just her name.

I tried to lead her to this village to talk to her and find out why those men were chasing her, but in the end came here empty-handed.

And it was annoying, to say the least.

I gazed up to the sky with a glazed look over my face, without much energy to do anything other than stay still. To the point where I stayed in this position for the next few hours.

Sat, alone.

Without moving.

Paying no attention to the activity going on around me.

One could easily label me as depressed, but I didn't think that was the right word.

No, it was more along the lines of betrayed.

Betrayed by that girl who didn't care in the slightest that I risked my life for her despite not even knowing her.

Actually, when I looked back to how I reacted to this, it only worsened my mood.

Why was I so affected by this?

"You."

A single word cut through my musing like a sharp knife, said in such a tone that made a shiver run down my spine.

There was definitely no mistaking who this was, and she didn't sound pleased in the slightest.

I slowly craned my head to her, a feeling of fear beginning to spread throughout me when I caught sight of her expression.

"L-Lisbeth!" I announced, jumping to my feet and standing as straight as possible.

She took a step closer, and I instinctively took a step back fearing for my life.

In a wordless exchange, she kept walking towards me and I kept backing up.

Until I felt my back hit something solid.

I looked back to see the wall of a house and gulped, a cold sweat beginning to pour down my face.

Her hand reached out and forcibly grabbed the collar of my shirt.

"_You!_"

"H-hey, Lisbeth! F-fancy meeting you here-"

"Don't try to chat your way out of this!" She growled, "Do you know how _worried _I was when I found out you'd left!?"

Her grip tightened and she pulled me closer.

"And why didn't you respond to my message? I thought you were dead!"

"T-there's a good explanation for that..." I averted my eyes, unable to look at her due to my increasing shame.

"Then look at me and _explain_."

A moment passed before I hesitantly turned to face her.

I stared into her eyes and felt a sense of regret blow over.

The energy began to drain from my body.

She was genuinely angry, and it was because of me.

For some reason, this made me feel incredibly depressed. And it was on a completely different level to how I felt about that girl.

I began to relax my body, no longer with the energy to keep myself tense.

"I..."

My eyes faltered and dropped to the ground.

"I'm sorry."

These pathetic words were all that could come out, no matter how hard I tried to tell her just how much I meant it.

But, despite this, her grip on my shirt loosened.

Only seconds passed but it felt like an eternity to me.

Everything was completely silent until she suddenly yanked me forward and wrapped her arms around me.

"Don't do it again."

In this moment, I only barely managed to keep myself from breaking down into tears as I reciprocated the embrace.

In this moment, I felt a heat in my cheeks alongside a strange emotion in my chest.

* * *

**And thus ends the long overdue chapter 4.**

**I'm sorry for the wait; something I'll try to do this year is be more consistent in the chapters.**

**With the girl, she was originally going to have a completely different role and personality to the one I'd ended up giving her.**

**And Lisbeth can be a pretty violent girl at times, so she wouldn't be the happiest of people after reuniting with the person who basically ditched her after they'd spent close to a month without being separated from each other.**

**As for Blanc, it looks like a certain feeling is beginning to arise...**

**See you next chapter!**


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